SYDNEY — An Australian court
ruled on Tuesday that the country's immigration minister wrongly
revoked a visa for an Indian doctor who was briefly accused of
links with a failed British car bomb plot in June.

The
Australian government has been criticized by civil rights groups
and legal organizations for its bungled arrest and subsequent
release of Dr. Mohamed Haneef in July.

“The minister cancelled the visa ... by applying the wrong
test. It follows that the decision must be set aside,” said
Federal Court Judge Jeffrey Spender in Brisbane.

The judge's decision, referring to Immigration Minister Kevin
Andrews, was posted on the Federal Court's website.

Mr. Andrews said the government would appeal against the
ruling.

“When I made the decision to cancel Dr. Haneef's visa, I made
it in the national interest and I stand by that decision,”

Mr. Andrews told reporters in Sydney. “I have instructed the
Australian government solicitor to lodge an appeal.”

Dr. Haneef, 27, was held for 11 days before being charged
with recklessly supporting terrorism in a case centred on the
loan of a mobile phone SIM card to a relative in Britain
allegedly linked to car bombs in London and Glasgow.

The charges were dropped because of lack of evidence, but the
government cancelled Dr. Haneef's visa and he flew home to
Bangalore to see his wife and newborn daughter.

Dr. Haneef has denied any knowledge of the plot and his
arrest ignited concerns about Australia's new counter-terrorism
laws.

Dr. Haneef, who worked in a Gold Coast hospital in Queensland
state, has said he would like to return to Australia.

Judge Spender rejected the minister's decision to cancel Dr.
Haneef's visa on “character grounds” based on his association
with two cousins who were terrorist suspects.

He said Dr. Haneef's visa could have been cancelled if the
minister had used the fact that British police regarded Dr.
Haneef as a person of interest in relation to the bombings and
that Dr. Haneef had been formally charged with terrorism
offences.

“These matters would have permitted the minister to conclude
that the association between Dr. Haneef and the Ahmed brothers
[his cousins] went beyond a purely familial, social, innocent
relationship,” said Judge Spender.

“On that material, it would have been open to the minister
... to cancel Dr. Haneef's visa,” he said.

Dr. Haneef's visa is not automatically reinstated and the
court in Brisbane ruled that the Australian government has 21
days to decide what action to take.